Hospital
by Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Summary: AU: Orihime finally got her dream job as a nurse, but what happens when she meets a man they say is incurable? Read to find out. Story by killer0meganekko. One-shot.


Disclaimer: Do Not Own.

Hehehe. ^^ Yeah, I saw this story on You Tube, asked the author ******killer0meganekko****** if I could write a story about it and said yes! You simple must check their work out. It's the most beautiful, emotional thing I've ever seen. ******killer0meganekko****** is the master of HichiHime fan vids.

Anyways… I present to you… Hospital!

XxXxX

Inoue Orihime smiled as she walked in for her first day at work. She was so excited that she passed her exam with excellence! Now she could help people, just as she had wanted for so long.  
>She stopped at the help desk and watched Ichigo looking through some papers. Most likely the chart of a patient.<p>

"Hi, Ichigo-Senpai." She smiled and he responded with his own smile.

"Sorry, but I'm a little busy now. How about we have lunch later, though?" He asked, grinning still and she nodded.

"Sure!" She watched as he headed off down the hallway towards his office.

"Orihime, how's your first day been?" Her friend asked.

"Oh, it's been prefect, Tatsuki-chan, but… I haven't had any patients, yet."

"Give it time." Tatsuki laughed. "Soon you'll be over flowing with patients and wish you never asked for any."

Orihime smiled and nodded, taking a seat next to her friend. Although she knew her friend was right, it was extremely boring just sitting there. Sighing deeply, she drew her friend's attention and for a few more minutes, they sat in silence.

"Bored?"

"Yeah." Orihime replied with a sigh.

"Let's take a walk and I'll show you around." Her friend laughed and her eyes grew wide.

"Are you sure? What if there's an emergency?"

"That's what they're here for." Tatsuki whispered, jerking a thumb at the other two nurses behind them that were chatting it up and popping bubble gum loudly.

Orihime smiled and nodded finally.

XxXxX

Groaning softly, Hichigo woke up. He frowned when he heard a soft beeping sound and he quickly sat up, remembering his nightmare from last night. Skeletons that haunted his dreams and past, but… why couldn't he remember anything?

He gasped suddenly and started to panic as he noticed various machines around him and the IV imbedded in his right arm. He quickly jerked it out, spraying blood over the wall and running out of the room. His breathing picked up as he looked down the pure white and empty hallways.

He didn't know why, but there was a feeling of dreaded defeat deep in his heart, he quickly turned another corner and came across two women. One seemed very shocked to see him and the other frowned, sighing deeply and shaking her head.

"What's wrong with him?" Orihime asked, eyes drawn to the blood dripping down his forearm and then back to frantic looking golden eyes. "Why is nobody watching him?"

"Renji!" Tatsuki called and the man in a white coat carefully approached the startled man.

"Calm down… everything is alright." Renji said carefully. He grabbed the man's arm gently and started leading him back down the hallway.

"Where am I? What's going on?" The man asked, terror evident in his voice.

"You're in the hospital… there was an accident." Their voices trailed and Tatsuki grabbed her friends arm, urging her to move on.

"You'll get use to him." Tatsuki said softly. "His name is Shirosaki Hichigo. He loses his memories about yesterday every morning. He's been here for about ten years now and he'll be here for the rest of his life. We can't let him out in his current state."

"What about family?"

"Nobody has come forward. He does this every morning, we usually have to keep him sedated."

"He has nobody?" Orihime asked once more and her friend shook her head no.

XxXxX

That next morning Orihime made her decision. She would cure that man, Hichigo. She would cure him somehow.

She knocked on the door to the head surgeon's office and Ichigo opened the door and gave her a surprised look. He hadn't been expecting her obviously, he shouldn't be. She showed up without scheduling an appointment.

"Orihime, what's going on?" He asked, removing his reading glasses and tucking them in his pocket. He stepped aside and allowed her to come inside.

"I have a request to make…" Orihime stated boldly. "I want to treat, Shirosaki Hichigo."

"Oh?" Ichigo said, brows raised sky high. "How did you come across him? Wandering the halls again I'm guessing?"

"Yes… you knew?" She was a little shocked he knew about that poor man, but chose to do nothing about it. Ichigo shrugged.

"Hichigo was my first patient actually. However, there is no cure for his condition. He'll be that way until the day he dies. I'm afraid nothing can be done for him."

"Please, Ichigo!"

"Alright," Ichigo sighed. "But I'm doing this as a friend. Just don't expect any cure and don't get attached. It just makes it harder."

"Thank you, Ichigo! I can cure him, I know it!" She quickly hugged Ichigo and he laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Now get out there and heal some people."

XxXxX

Orihime arrived at her patients room and knocked, before opening the door. He was just sitting on his bed with a defeated look on his face. A slight frown formed on her face, before she quickly forced a smile and brought a tray of dinner for him.

"Hi, Shirosaki-san. I'm Inoue Orihime and I'm going to be your nurse from now on." She told him warmly, but he sighed deeply.

"How many times have you had to say that?" He asked, a deep depression set in his voice.

"Just this once." She replied and watched as he lifted his head up slightly to look at her. "I've just been assigned to you today."

"Oh." He breath simple and lowered his head again.

"Hichigo… I promise you that I will be here by your side every day. As long as it takes to cure you." Orihime told him firmly, she stepped forward and grabbed his arm gently, forcing him to give her a shocked look. "Promise me that you won't forget me, okay?"

He smiled a little at her grin. "O-okay."

"Have you taken your medication, yet today?" She asked, cutting an apple carefully, before handing him a piece.

"No." He stated boredly, almost dejectedly, staring at the slice of apple, only investigating it and nothing else. He probably didn't intend to eat it at all.

"Well, we'll start with that then. Don't worry, we'll figure this out, okay?" She told him and he nodded, still a little unsure.

XxXxX

The next morning, Orihime headed down the hall, but her smile faded when she saw Hichigo cautiously wandering the halls again.

"Hichigo?" She asked and stepped forward to take his arm, but he backed up, bewildered. Eyes wild like that of a terrified horse.

"Where am I?" He wondered, she could feel he was shaking and she frowned even more at the look on his face. He did not remember a thing about yesterday.

"Come on, Hichigo, I'll explain on the way. Let's get you your medication and see if that helps any."

She really had not wanted to explain his situation to him, because the look on his face when she did was heart retching. He was so upset and she really wanted to just hug him and say it was going to be okay, so she did.

"Don't you remember, Hichigo? I promised yesterday that I would help you get better. I'm going to keep that promise, you promised you'd remember me."

"I… did…?" He asked and she nodded, still smiling, for his sake. He allowed her to give him his medication, but not long after he retched it up, just as he had the day before. She made a mental note to find a different medication for him.

After he fell asleep, she exited the room and found Ichigo just outside. Like he had been waiting almost.

"Oh, I was about to come in and see how our patient was doing. You've been spending a lot of time with him." He said, but smiled a little to cheer her up as best he could. "Judging by the look on your face, he's the same?"

"Yes. Actually… I want to prescribe him a different medication." Orihime said and Ichigo gave a surprised look.

"Really? What would be the cause?"

"He can't keep that medication down and I really don't think it's helping him at all."

"He'll stay on what he's on."

"Ichigo?" She asked, surprised at his tone.

"Just give him something for the nausea with it, but you won't change the medication he's on." The two had to back up as a few nurses and doctors rushed a patient past them.

"Why?" She lowered her voice to a whisper to avoid detection. "Because of the drug administration? Because you get paid to give him this stuff?"

"It-it has nothing to do with that." Ichigo said suddenly.

"I thought you wanted to help people, just like I do." Orihime said, a frown taking over her features. "To have him take a drug that isn't even working isn't helping his condition, it's worsening it."

"I'll make that decision, Orihime." Ichigo told her firmly and she sighed, before walking away from him quickly. "Orihime!"

XxXxX

Orihime sat in the cafeteria, a few moments by herself and Tatsuki took her usual seat besides her. The girl smiled at her friend as she set her lunch down.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Just thinking about my patient." Orihime told her, trying to finish her food in a hurry to get back to Hichigo. She didn't want him left alone too long.

"You're pretty dedicated to fixing that guy, huh?" Tatsuki asked and Orihime nodded. A few moments later Tatsuki winced when the head surgeon took his seat next to them as well.

"After noon, Orihime." Ichigo said and she smiled at her friend.

"Good after noon, Ichigo." She replied, quickly finishing her drink. "Okay, I've got to get back to work now!" Orihime said enthusiastically.

"What's with her?" Ichigo asked in confusion. Hadn't he just sat down to talk to her?

"Oh, she's pretty much dedicated her life to curing that patient of hers." Tatsuki informed, absentmindedly pushing some odd looking soggy vegetable around her plate, making a disgusted face.

"Yeah… she's been spending a lot of time with him hasn't she?" Ichigo said slowly, eyes darkening a little in irritation he couldn't spend time with her. "It doesn't seem… health…"

"Eh, it's fine. If I didn't know any better I'd say she found her prince charming." Tatsuki laughed a little.

XxXxX

The next few days were a repeat, carbon copy days. It was day thirty-one and making a sneak decision, Orihime had been flushing his medication down the toilet, rather then giving that stuff to him and to her surprise; he actually did look a little better.

"You know, Hichigo, I live just across the street." She smiled brightly at him, pointing out the window to the apartment complex. His eyes widened and he took on a surprised look. "And if you yell loud enough… I can hear it."

"Really…?" He asked and she smiled even brighter.

"Really." She assured him. She cleared her throat, walked over to a duffel bag, and pulled something out. "Yesterday… I even made a shirt for you."

He tilted his head to the side slightly, and when she handed it to him, he pulled it on. She laughed at him as he put it on over his hospital gown and he even laughed at the humor of it. Something that was rare for him.

"I wish I could remember you tomorrow… and the day after that… and… even after that."

XxXxX

It wasn't right, most likely, she would be in quiet a bit of trouble, but she took Hichigo out of the hospital to take him for a walk and get some sunlight and fresh air.  
>He needed more then an open window. In that room, he was just a bird singing in a cage.<p>

Orihime glanced at him and he was quiet for a while, before she spotted a small cart. She grabbed his arm and dragged him with her.

"Come on!"

"Hey! What are ya' doing?" He asked, but stopped when she passed him an ice cream. He stopped and stared at the white creamy ice cream for a few minutes.

"What's the matter? Don't you like ice-cream?" She wondered, a cheerful smile on her face.

"It's not that. Just… I'm told off for this kiddy crap."

"pst." She scoffed at him and he looked from the ice cream to her. "You're never too old to do anything."

"Alright." He sighed deeply, taking a lick of ice cream. She giggled at him, because he got some besides his mouth and his lips lifted in a grin as he took some on his finger and smeared it on her nose.

"Oh, it's cold!" She laughed regardless and wiped the ice cream away. The both of them ended up laughing quietly at such a silly thing.

XxXxX

It was day sixty and during one of their sessions, she had begun cutting an apple for him as she always did, when he absently laid back and stared at the ceiling.

"You… cut an apple for me… yesterday… right?" He asked and she froze suddenly, almost cutting herself when the knife slipped. When he saw this, he sat up. "It… wasn't a dream?"

"No…" She quickly hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, before he felt the tears coming to his eyes. Happy to finally, finally have remembered something.

"Then… can you sing for me again today?" He asked and she nodded, wiping at her own tears. "Now that I remember you, Orihime… it feels like the skeletons that haunted me before… are dancing for me and you."

XxXxX

It was day eighty and Orihime was staring out the window as Hichigo read some papers from a book he had started writing since he had been able to remember. He had wanted to write a story about them, how could she deny him?

"Hichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"What would you do if I didn't work here anymore?" She asked, hearing him set his papers down she turned around to look at him, twiddling her hands behind her back.

"I would yell my lungs out so you could hear me… and then you would run here right away to help me… right?" He asked, smiling, knowing the answer before she said it.

"Of course." She smiled at him and he grinned back. After their day together, her shift was over and she told him goodbye, kissing him on the cheek before she left.

As Orihime got ready to leave, she noticed Ichigo, deciding to tell him the great news, so that maybe others could be helped as well.

"Shirosaki Hichigo has made huge progress." She told him, happily. "I can give the others the data too."

"Don't bother." Ichigo told her uncaringly. "The way you treat patients is out of the record. Just drop this case." Her eyes grew wide at his words, before he put on a smile. "I can think of something else to do." His face hardened then, revealing his true feelings. "You treat them like animals."

"I hate that kind of people!" She yelled at him, losing her cool as she grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him in anger

"Orihime! You're not thinking clearly! Just calm down and we can-" Ichigo, shouted as he tripped and fell into the glass window behind him, he gasped and grabbed his bloody arm. "Guard!"

XxXxX

"Shirosaki-san?" A nurse asked, walking into the room. "I have this paper for you."

"What?" He asked in confusion, grabbing the papers and what he saw there made him sick to the stomach. "Inoue Orihime has been fired; here is a list of the people that will be taking care of you."

He could not breath, he was hyperventilating as the tears started to fall without him being able to stop them, and they must have thought him insane.

Dropping the papers to the floor, he ran to the window and tossed it open, while the nurse screamed and called security.

XxXxX

At the small apartment across the street, Orihime froze and slowly looked up from brushing her teeth, lowering the brush and starting at her own shocked expression in the mirror.

"Hichigo…?" She did not waste any time, dropping the toothbrush and grabbing her jacket, before running back to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Her eyes widened when she saw a nurse with a hand over her mouth in front of Hichigo's room. She ran past the nurse.

"Hichigo!" She shouted and he stopped struggling against the guards that were holding him. She glanced down at the floor to see the broken syringe and Ichigo sitting there holding his bleeding nose.

"Hime?" He asked and the guards loosened their grip, he jerked away from the two men and they didn't do a thing as he stepped towards Orihime. She embraced him tightly as he dropped to his knees and cried into her shoulder. "Please, don't leave me again."

"Its okay, Hichi. It's alright. I'll stay." She told him, whispering soothing words into his hair and rubbing her hands up and down his back to calm him.

Everybody in the room was shocked at this, but nobody said anything against it. Even Ichigo seemed shocked; he stood slowly, with the help of a nurse. All staff exited the room quietly.

"You won't leave?" He asked, sniffling softly.

"No. I will not leave. I am going to stay by your side. And we're going to discharge you."

"But, I don't have any family."

"You don't have to worry about that, because… I'll take are of you from now on. I will cure you completely, just as I promised. I'm going to stay right here by your side." She told him firmly and he hugged her tighter.

XxXxX

The End

Thanks for reading, although I do not believe I did it any justice. (hangs head in defeated) oh, well I guess… I tried.


End file.
